Pantry Collective

Around Thanksgiving, when cranberries were readily available and inexpensive, I bought an extra bag and froze it so I’d have some around once they were gone for another year. For some reason supermarkets think we don’t want to eat cranberries any time of the year except late fall. While it’s true that they happen to be in season then, it’s not like seasonality has ever concerned the grocery store before (see: tomatoes RIGHT NOW).

These muffins are delightful. Have I ever made muffins from scratch before? Nope. Were these super easy? Yep. Tart cranberries, fresh orange zest, and yummy toasted walnuts, with a crunchy muffin top thanks to the sugar sprinkles. You could make blueberry muffins with the same recipe, although I would use lemon zest in that case. I might increase the amount of fruit, too - 1 1/2 cups is fine, but I think they could have handled two cups and would have been all the more full of cranberry flavor.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (cold)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon orange zest (about 1 large orange’s worth)
Clear sugar sprinkles

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.

2. Pulse the cranberries in a food processor until they’re coarsely chopped. Transfer from food processor to a bowl and toss with 1/4 of the sugar.

3. Toast the walnuts - heat a small pan over medium high heat and add the nuts. Cook, stirring frequently, until they start to brown a bit and are fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

4. Wash out the food processor and dry thoroughly. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and remaining 1 cup of sugar and pulse to combine. Cut the butter up into chunks and add it to the flour mixture. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.

5. Combine the eggs with the milk. Stir into the flour mixture until just moistened. Gently fold in the nuts, orange zest, and cranberries. Don’t over-mix.

6. Fill paper-lined muffin tins two thirds full. Sprinkle with the sugar sprinkles. Bake at 400˚F for 23 - 25 minutes. Makes about 18 muffins.

Tags: Baking, cranberries, muffins, orange zest, walnuts

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 9:26 am and is filed under Baking, Breakfast, Desserts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.